Green Alliance rules out supporting Zuluaga in second round

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The party of former presidential candidate, Enrique Peñalosa, the Green Alliance (Alianza Verde – AV), has ruled out supporting Oscar Ivan Zuluaga in the second round of Colombia’s presidential elections on June 15.

The party will confirm their position in a meeting of the national board on Wednesday, although it is certain that they will not endorse the handpicked candidate of former President Uribe, Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, of the Democratic Center (Centro Democratico – CD) party.

In a meeting of the national board of the Green Alliance on Tuesday afternoon which lasted three hours, the party expressed their concerns that it is important to continue to build an alternative political party for Colombians.

The Senator John Sudarsky, who was present at the meeting, said that the decision was made because with Zuluaga, “the peace of Uribe terrified us and produced panic,” reported Colombian daily, El Espectador.

“Various members of the national board of the Alliance suffered first hand what is was like in the eight years of Uribe,” he continued.

“I am terrified of a Zuluaga government for all the effects there were in civil society under Uribe. There was a dismantling of civil society.”

He indicated however that any support for Santos would not amount to an admission of national unity, nor a demand for anything in return, but rather for concern regarding the ongoing peace talks with the FARC, the country’s largest guerrilla group.

Meanwhile the Co-Chair of the meeting, Bogota Congressman, Antonio Sanguino,declared that the Green Alliance will not be intimidated by the threat that the country has to choose between war and peace.”

Peace talks between the Government and the FARC, the country’s largest guerrilla group, have been ongoing since November 2012 and so far three of six points on the peace agenda have been completed.

The election has increasingly been framed as a choice between war and peace, especially since Zuluaga won the first round of the election with incumbent Juan Manuel Santos in second place.

In a press conference on Monday, following the tense but peaceful electoral contest, Zuluaga reiterated an earlier promise to suspend the talks, stressing he would do so on his first day in office.

Enrique Peñalosa was the definitive loser of Sundays elections, commanding a dismal 8.3% of the vote. The Green Alliance (Alianza Verde – AV) candidate who was just a month ago tied in polls with victor Zuluaga — and once favored to defeat Santos in a second round –failed to mobilize Colombians on all fronts.